RoguedexPart 1 (Sep 2023) · #6 of 14 in that tierWatch the moment (1:22:19)
Loot River
- Developed by
- straka.studio
- Published by
- straka.studio, SUPERHOT PRESENTS
$24.99
Explore procedurally generated labyrinths in this challenging, narrative-rich roguelike. Master deep combat. Slide blocks of ancient ruins. Defeat bestial abominations. Loot, level up, strategize, fight, die and wake up anew. Unlock the secrets of the Loot River. Immortality is a bittersweet gift.
Consensus
F56.8/100
Steam players67% positiveMixed464 reviews
Metacritic ↗74/100Users: 5.1/10
VG Insights estimate ↗≈13.9K copies · ≈$239K gross
What creators say
Ranked Jun 2023 · #10 of 12 in that tierWatch the moment (0:47:25)
What players say
A pixel-art dark-fantasy action roguelite from straka.studio (published with SUPERHOT PRESENTS) where you slide the floating floor tiles of flooded ruins Tetris-style while fighting in stamina-based, souls-flavoured combat.
Loot River landed as a 'fascinating idea, uneven execution' game. Critics were mostly positive (Metacritic 74 from 21 reviews, with scores ranging from 100 down to 40), praising the tile-sliding hook, art and music, while Steam players are Mixed (about 67% positive from roughly 464 reviews) and Metacritic users are lower still at 5.1 (only 13 ratings). The recurring split is between people who click with the soulslike parry/stamina combat and block-shifting puzzle layer, and people who find it clunky, shallow in loot and meta-progression, and buggy. It is a finished 1.0 release (May 2022, Windows only; also appears on Game Pass per a Steam reviewer), but a Steam community thread asks whether it is still being developed, so post-launch support looks quiet. It is now regularly bought for a dollar or a few dollars on sale, and reviewers tend to say it is worth that, not the $25 launch price.
Players love
- The tile-sliding mechanic: pushing floating landmasses to bridge gaps, isolate enemies, create chokepoints or escape is praised as a genuinely fresh twist (God is a Geek, Hardcore Gamer, many Steam reviews)
- Dark, atmospheric pixel art and an intense soundtrack are the most consistently complimented production elements
- Combat, once learned, is described as engaging and well-paced, with parrying and dodge timing rewarding skill
- Bosses are said to have distinct mechanics instead of reskinned patterns
- Build variety: many weapons, spells and armour pieces plus multiple routes through levels encourage experimentation
- An easy/accessibility mode lets players learn the unusual controls and difficulty curve, and modifiers can raise difficulty back up
- Short, replayable runs (roughly 5-10 hours to beat, 10-15 for 100%) and a low sale price make it easy to recommend as a change of pace
Common complaints
- Combat is frequently called clunky, with janky collisions and sloppy hitboxes; one Steam reviewer called it some of the worst combat they had played
- Bugs can ruin runs: enemies that lock platform movement can stay in effect after they die, and a boss was knocked outside the arena barrier, forcing restarts
- Loot and weapons feel samey (many weapons differ mainly by element and scaling) and meta-progression is very shallow for a game named Loot River
- Not much content: several players felt they had seen nearly everything in one or two runs, and Screen Rant scored it 40 saying it feels like an Early Access product
- Story and lore are described as boring or forgettable, and endings unfulfilling
- Visual clutter and poor visibility during fights make it hard to read the action and spot drops (LEVEL, Metacritic user reviews)
- Stamina and parry-heavy design irritates players who wanted fast, fluid roguelike combat
- Floating-block mechanic sometimes leaves no route forward, and most weapons are slow, so players feel pushed to abuse parry or die often (Steam negative reviews)
Can feel tedious
- Block-shifting puzzles can stall the pace when you are stuck trying to progress, especially when repeated across runs
- Stamina management and the delayed parry window frustrate players who find it punishing for any misstep
- Unlock/meta loop feels thin, so repeated runs can feel repetitive once the hook wears off
- Needing five keys to open gates and other progression gates feel grindy to some players (Steam community thread)
- Keyboard and mouse play is widely called awkward, so a controller is effectively required
What's unique
- Tetris-like shifting floor: the map itself is an active weapon and puzzle that you rearrange in real time while fighting
- Marketed and reviewed as Dark Souls meets Diablo meets Tetris (The Games Machine, Hardcore Gamer)
- You control character movement, attacks and platform pushing at once, which makes controller play close to mandatory
- Flooded-ruin setting with procedurally generated labyrinths, a narrative thread and multiple routes
- Soulslike stamina/parry combat inside a fast roguelite loop, with easy mode and modifiers to tune difficulty
Players want
- Fix the soft-locks and bugs (persisting platform locks, bosses leaving arenas, controller remap double-inputs) and keep polishing; players ask whether development is still active
- Make loot more interesting and weapons more distinct, with deeper meta-progression
- Add more content and gameplay variety, especially mid-run, which GRYOnline.pl and Steam users both allude to
- Improve combat readability, hitbox cleanliness and enemy attack/parry timing; some parry-only enemies are said to be nearly impossible to hit
- Fix level layouts where the floating mechanic leaves no route forward, and reduce time lost to block-puzzle stalls
- Better regional pricing and storefront reach (Steam users ask about Argentina pricing and a GOG release)
Summarised from Steam reviews and community discussion.
Steam tags
DifficultAction RoguelikeSouls-likeDungeon CrawlerRogue-liteRPGFast-PacedPerma DeathRogue-likeStrategy
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Tier list Part 1 (2023)
Loot River is a top-down action roguelike where you fight while also moving the shifting platforms floating on water beneath you. He loves the gimmick, art style and the adventure side (events, bosses, biomes), but finds the moment-to-moment combat repetitive and the game extremely grindy. Early runs repeat the same floor, enemies and spells for hours, and some bosses are cheesable or one-shot you. He calls it underwhelming and feels it could have been really interesting with more time and different design approaches, placing it in a high position of a lower tier.
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